Ministry of Defence

Defence: Buildings

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has identified any buildings on his Department's estate with potential issues with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of buildings on the defence estate have mitigations in place due to potential structural problems caused by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) being present in their construction.

James Cartlidge: For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property. Surveys are currently being conducted on all buildings which may have been constructed using Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC). We take safety extremely seriously and, based on our current information, RAAC has not traditionally been used by the Ministry of Defence in the construction of domestic structure, and it is therefore highly unlikely that any Service Family Accommodation is affected. The majority of Single Living Accommodation was not constructed during the review period.

Defence: Buildings

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many buildings on the defence estate are constructed with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to estimate the number of buildings on the defence estate that are constructed with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to mitigate the risk of collapse of buildings on the defence estate constructed with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.

James Cartlidge: For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property. The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) Infrastructure Management System has been used to determine what Ministry of Defence assets might potentially contain RAAC material based on the period in which they were constructed and their construction type. Surveys are currently being conducted to identify buildings which may have been constructed with RAAC on Ministry of Defence land.

Defence: Buildings

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many buildings on the Defence Estate containing either (a) service family accommodation and (b) single living accommodation units, were constructed using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).

James Cartlidge: For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property.Surveys are currently being conducted to identify buildings which may have been constructed with RAAC on Ministry of Defence (MOD) land.We take safety extremely seriously and, based on our current information, RAAC has not traditionally been used by the MOD in the construction of domestic structure, and it is therefore highly unlikely that any Service Family Accommodation is affected. The majority of Single Living Accommodation was not constructed during the review period.

Defence: Buildings

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department made of the potential prevalence of RAAC in buildings (a) owned and (b) occupied by (i) military and (ii) other departmental staff.

James Cartlidge: For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property.Surveys are currently being conducted to identify buildings which may have been constructed with RAAC on Ministry of Defence (MOD) land. We take safety extremely seriously and, based on our current information, RAAC has not traditionally been used by the MOD in the construction of domestic structure, and it is therefore highly unlikely that any Service Family Accommodation is affected. The majority of Single Living Accommodation was not constructed during the review period.

Defence: Buildings

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of buildings used by British service personnel overseas have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) present in their construction.

James Cartlidge: For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property. Surveys are currently being conducted to identify buildings which may have been constructed with RAAC on Ministry of Defence land.

Defence: Buildings

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what contingency plans his Department has in place to deal with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete within Defence Estate buildings.

James Cartlidge: For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property. Surveys are currently being conducted to identify buildings which may have been constructed with RAAC on Ministry of Defence land.

Defence: Buildings

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) has been found within their Department's estate.

James Cartlidge: For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property. Surveys are currently being conducted to identify buildings which may have been constructed with RAAC on Ministry of Defence (MOD) land.We take safety extremely seriously and, based on our current information, RAAC has not traditionally been used by the MOD in the construction of domestic structure, and it is therefore highly unlikely that any Service Family Accommodation is affected. The majority of Single Living Accommodation was not constructed during the review period.

Department for Education

Students: Public Transport

Dr Neil Hudson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure the safety of students using public transport to access their place of education.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Transport is responsible for maintaining high standards of safety and security in transport.The Department for Education is responsible for home to school travel. The Department requires Local Authorities to arrange free home to school travel for eligible pupils of compulsory school age. They decide what travel arrangements to make, provided they are suitable. They might provide a pass for free travel on public transport.Local Authorities are also required to publish an annual transport policy statement specifying the arrangements they consider necessary to facilitate attendance at education or training by young people of sixth form age. The Department expects them to take account of local transport infrastructure in doing so.The Department also publishes statutory guidance which highlights that everyone who works with children has a responsibility for keeping them safe and sets out what professionals and organisations need to do to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. A link to the statutory guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2.